Big Bird in China
Big Bird in China is a 1983 special produced by the Children's Television Workshop which originally aired on NBC. In the first international special based on Sesame Street, Big Bird is inspired by a Chinatown scroll, and the story of the legendary Phoenix. After coaxing the shopkeeper into lending him the scroll, Big Bird and Barkley take a slow boat to China. They soon make a new friend, little Xiao Foo, and receive enigmatic hints from the Monkey King. Filmed on location in Beijing and elsewhere, the Great Wall of China and Mao's Tomb are amongst the landmarks shown. Also featured are assorted street dancers, cheerful Communists, and a song about saying "Hello" in Chinese. The special was adapted into a book by Jon Stone and Victor Di Napoli. Reviews Cast Human Cast (as translated in the credits) *Ouyang Lien-Tze as Xiao Foo *Arabella Hong as the Shopkeeper *Hua Zhi-Ping as the Storyteller *Quan She-Zhen, Liu Xia-Shen, Xiu Tien-Ed, Lu Fu-Hai, Wu Chu-Lian, Li Jiang, Chou Yi-Ping, Zhang Xin-Tien as the Monkey Kings *Wang Kwan-Wei and Ting Bao-Yi as Lion Dogs *Lu Ja-Lin as the Dancing Phoenix *Katherine Lakoski as the Singing Phoenix *Duck Dancers from North Hsin Hua Street Kindergarten Muppet Performers *Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch *Brian Muehl as Barkley, Telly Monster *Frank Oz as Bert, Cookie Monster, Grover *Jerry Nelson as Two-Headed Monster *Richard Hunt as Two-Headed Monster *Cheryl Blaylock *Ed Christie *Martin P. Robinson *Jim Henson as Ernie Crew * Directed by Jon Stone * Written by Joseph A. Bailey and Jon Stone * Executive Producer: Jon Stone * Associate Producer: Tish Sommers * Associate Director: Ozzie Alfonso * Music Composed, Arranged and Conducted by Dick Lieb * For The Muppets: Caroly Wilcox, Larry Jameson, Susan Moore, Richard Termine * For Big Bird: Kermit Love, Debra Spinney * Original Puppet Design: Don Sahlin * Editor: Ken Gutstein * Audio: Blake Norton * Sound Effects: Dick Maitland * Art Director: Victor DiNapoli * Location Coordinator: Peter Chow * Animation Designed By Sam MacLean with New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Laboratory Songs *"We're Going to China" *"Ni Hao" *"Monkey King Song" Notes * In the 2004 DVD release, Brian Muehl's lines for Telly are dubbed by Martin P. Robinson. The DVD release also cuts out all of Big Bird's lines of dialogue in regards to "speaking American". * A running storyline was written by Bailey and Stone featuring Grover, who would host a travelogue from various locations in China, but each sight would be blocked by an incoming Chinese water buffalo. At the special's end, the buffalo would follow Grover back to Sesame Street. The scenes were scrapped when Stone discovered "water buffalos stink to high heaven. They also aren’t field-trained. So Jon said he didn’t have the heart to ask Frank Oz, Grover’s puppeteer, to lie down in that slop.""Muppets Gone Missing: Joe Bailey at GraphicPolicy.com * According to Debra Spinney, a sequence with Big Bird riding a unicycle down the street was filmed, but didn't make it into the final cut.I Am Big Bird audio commentary at 44:15 Big Bird had previously ridden a unicycle in Episode 0514. Image:Journalchina03.jpg Image:Journalchina05.jpg Image:Journalchina06.jpg Image:Journalchina11.jpg Image:Journalchina14.jpg Image:Journalchina10.jpg Image:Journalchina13.jpg Big bird in china.jpg|ctw closing logo Video releases Image:Video.bigbirdchina-vhs.jpg| 1987 Random House Home Video 89755 ISBN: 0394897552 Image:BigBirdChinaVHSSony.jpg| Sony Wonder LV 51231 ISBN: 073892735X Image:Bbchina.jpg| 2004 Sony Wonder LVD 51231 ISBN: 0738927368 Sources External links *Tough Pigs Journal: Big Bird in China *Jim Henson's Red Book - 5/29/1983 - Big Bird in China airs __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Sesame Street Specials Category:Sesame Street Video